Hamas, Hague and Honesty

William Hague, the UK Secretary of State blames Hamas for the state of affairs in Gaza and Southern Israel. So let’s be clear. Firing rockets at people is wrong; any rockets, any bullets and shells, and bombs, whether Iranian made fired from Gaza or American made fired frokm Israel.

Jewish Voice for Peace in its statement points out that the conflict is ‘assymetric’. Today we hear that 3 Israeli’s have been killed in a rocket attack. That is three too many. But why are Israeli victims worth more than Palestinian victims? Because they seem to be; more ‘air-time’, more column inches, more hysterical statements from Western diplomats.

Over the last 10 years more than four times as many Palestinians have been killed by Israel than have Israelis killed by ‘terrorists’. Israel has assassinated people in foreign countries by agents using forged UK (& other) identities. They have been condemned, by word; and rewarded in action. Recently the EU upgraded its trading agreement with Israel despite Israel having failed to meet its human rights commitments under the previous agreement.

Since ‘Operation Cast Lead’ Palestinians in Gaza, including women and children, have been killed at the rate of 1/2 each week, by Israeli rocket attacks, drone strikes and military incursions. How many have died as a result of the immoral siege we cannot know.

If Israel is serious about peace there are a number of things it can do straight away. Remove the siege on Gaza. By its own reckoning it’s not working, so try something else, something peaceful; provide Gaza with everything it needs to rebuild and modernise. Remove all illegal settlements in the West Bank and honour their obligations under international law. Pay the PA what it owes them and remove the economic, academic, cultural embargoes on Palestinian activity in West Bank and Gaza. And come to the negotiating table without preconditions that require Israel’s Arab citizens to accept secondary status. Israel cannot be both democratic and a ‘Jewish’ state. That’s what we say about Islam; it’s what I say about Christianity; and it has to be said about Judaism, (which, by the way, has nothing whatsover to do with modern Israel!).

When all is done and said – Please – Pray for Israeli Jew, for Israeli Palestinian, for Palestinians everywhere, and the Jewish Diaspora…

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4 Comments

One – The Jews never stole anyone’s lands since that land hadn’t belonged to the Arabs for some time; It belonged to England, who the Arabs never seemed to attack. Any expansion of Israel was done when the Arabs – few, if any of them ever resident in the area – attacked the Jews in Israel and lost.

Two – It doesn’t and shouldn’t matter what these Arabs want. They lost the right to have an opinion along with all their supposed rights when they chose terrorism as a means of getting their way.

I am sorry but you clearly haven’t studied the history. The land never belonged to England. The British Mandate from the League of nations provided for a homeland for Jews, not a state, and eventual independence for the Arabs.
The Palestinians did indeed attack British targets, the Arab rebellions of ?1938. As to residence please don’t be taken in by Peters & Dershowitz. Peters analysis has been roundly trashed by Zionist historians who approve of her polemic but not her scholarship. In 1900 approximately 5% of the population of Palestine were Jewish centred in Hebron, Jerusalem, & Haifa.
As to your final comment; your logic in incomprehensible. It has to matter what people want and think. Nothing removes the right to an opinion, even a wrong oone. I am according to you the right to be heard even though I profoundly disagree with you. Of the 45 million refugees in the world today, one-third are Palestinian; few were born when Israel became a state. Have they no rights at all.
Consider, more than 200,000 Paletinians (terrorists by your definition) are the ‘wrong side’ of the apartheid barrier…… work it out

You guess wrong, and it’s clear you’ve not been listening. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a champion of Hamas and definitely not of terrorism. But who is terrorising whom here? Unless we examine the history, unless we hear the stories of the ordinary people on all sides we have no chance of understanding not of helping be part of the solution. That’s why the organisations listed are so important, they’re all working for peace – some of them are praying too, as am I.
Have you, by the way, asked the ‘Muslim terrorists’ what they want, or have you just listened to the right wing pro-Israel rhetoric.
As an Evangelical Christian I am committed to Truth, Justice and Righteousness and I’m not going to judge people, especially without listening to them, (rather than what they’re supposed to have said).
I don’t like, nor agree with, your comment, but you’ve a right to reply so I’m ‘approving’ it.
No, I don’t think 6 million murdered was a ‘good’ anything. But 6 million Jews, (not to mention homosexuals, disabled and Gypsies, murdered in Europe by Europeans doesn’t justify the murder and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians who had nothing to do with the 6 million dead! Wouldn’t you object if somebody came and stole your land…..?